I don't use the term, either. It seems more offensive to me than "black" does, not only because it assumes people are Americans, but also because most black Americans have no more to do with Africa than white Americans have to do with their country (or countries) of origin.

If you want to say "African American", you should also start calling people "Irish Americans", "Italian Americans", "German Americans", etc for white people. Almost no one does that, so there is no point to using the term "African American".

I also happen to know the term is offensive to people who do come from Africa and then become Americans, because I had a friend who did that. He thought the term was absolutely ridiculous given that most of the black people he'd met in America had never even been to Africa. So while the term "African American" accurately applied to him as an African who became an American, it did NOT apply to the millions of black people already in America.

Somebody I know was once telling me a story of an experience that she had in Europe. As part of her story, she referred to one of the people involved as an "African American". Which struck me as very odd, since SHE WAS IN SPAIN at the time.

So that got me thinking . . . should she have referred to that person as an "African Spaniard"? But what if he, like she, was just a tourist in Spain on vacation? How do you know where he was from, so you could refer to him correctly using this type of reference?

Going through all possible iterations of what other "African-Somethings" could have been used, I determined that it is much simpler and more accurate just to refer to black people as black people. It's just an adjective. Like "short woman", "skinny dude", "blonde chick" or "stupid guy". It's a black guy.

The problem is with the entire "politically correct" movement, which is mostly BS.

As long as people aren't using terms that have obvious negative connotations, no one should be whining about the terms themselves. For example, I understand people shouldn't use the word ****** for black people, but calling them black should be fine as long as calling other people white is fine.

I also think racism is seen as a terrible thing - UNLESS the person who is racist is black, in which case they can say or do whatever they want and it's somehow okay.

Somebody I know was once telling me a story of an experience that she had in Europe. As part of her story, she referred to one of the people involved as an "African American". Which struck me as very odd, since SHE WAS IN SPAIN at the time.

So that got me thinking . . . should she have referred to that person as an "African Spaniard"? But what if he, like she, was just a tourist in Spain on vacation? How do you know where he was from, so you could refer to him correctly using this type of reference?

Going through all possible iterations of what other "African-Somethings" could have been used, I determined that it is much simpler and more accurate just to refer to black people as black people. It's just an adjective. Like "short woman", "skinny dude", "blonde chick" or "stupid guy". It's a black guy.

"African American" is just plain silly.

Black/white are perfectly acceptable as racial descriptions, even for people who are concerned about being politically correct.

Another case of your opinion not being the final say. If Barack Obama does not want to be called "black", I'm pretty sure you can't just say "Sorry, BO, you're black. Deal with it." Or you can and have your last 20 tax returns audited while enduring full body cavity searches.

Posted by MikeT23 on 5/8/2013 2:57:00 PM (view original):Another case of your opinion not being the final say. If Barack Obama does not want to be called "black", I'm pretty sure you can't just say "Sorry, BO, you're black. Deal with it." Or you can and have your last 20 tax returns audited while enduring full body cavity searches.

Well, a black Supreme Court justice recently referred to Obama as the first black president, so it seems OK.